What to Watch, Listen, and Read Before a Trip to Canada

Evolving Pop Culture Guide to Canada Evolving pop culture guide on what to consume before or during your trip to Canada 🇨🇦. These are podcasts, books, and documentaries I have consumed and would recommend. You can learn more about each by clicking the links in the title. Learn about Canada’s Indigenous Peoples Listen to Podcasts …

The Troubles of Calatheas

I was gifted the beautiful Calathea Marion. I have had good times with her and sad times with her. I love her, but she sometimes doesn’t love me back. This is my plant log with my Calathea Marion. Lighting Calatheas like bright, indirect light. I originally put her about 15ft from a massive south-west facing …

Vancouver Island to Vancouver by Ferry (I was not chill)

A Vancouver Island Road Trip – Day 4 I was pumped to go to spend half of a day in Vancouver. I’ve never been and have always wanted to go. Unfortunately this did not happen, because we missed our planned ferry to Vancouver. Tofino to Nanaimo It was a nearly 3 hour drive to Nanaimo. …

What to Do with One Day in Tofino – Surf in Tofino

A Vancouver Island Road Trip – Day 3 The goal of this day was to learn how to surf in Tofino. I tried surfing one other time, but I don’t really count it. I was 19, in Indonesia, and it was only for 20 mins and pretty informal. With a full day available, our perfect …

Road Trip to Tofino, British Columbia

A Vancouver Island Road Trip – Day 2 After a good night’s sleep at Best Western Cowichan Valley, Callum & I woke up early so we could make the nearly 3.5 hours drive to Tofino (with some stops along the way). I really wanted to check out Cathedral Grove (they filmed some of Star Wars …

Orca in Vancouver British Columbia in the Pacific Ocean

1-Day in Victoria, BC – Whales & City Exploration

A Vancouver Island Road Trip – Day 1 Fear aside, we headed to Vancouver Island in British Columbia (BC) for the first part of our road trip (and for me to live out my dream of seeing Orcas). It’s been eight months since I last travelled. The thing that I loved so much, the thing …

Kyrgyzstan-Sheep-Car

Underestimating the Road to Tash Rabat

A theme was starting to form on our trip — maps were/are wrong, and the rough roads were causing significant delays. Knowing we had a seven-hour journey ahead, we woke up very early to hit the road to Tash Rabat. We wanted to drive the Pamir Highway, and decided we would do this from Bishkek …

Exploring Soviet Gulag KarLag in Kazakhstan

History has interested me for as long as I can remember. How the human race has committed atrocities, and how we learn from the mistakes of others. How people are able to rise up against the odds, and prevail. KarLag is an example of one of these atrocities. What was KarLag? KarLag (short for Karaganda …

Big-Almaty-Lake

Traffic Jam at Big Almaty Lake in Winter

If you are going to check out nature’s attractions, I recommend looking up what the sight will actually look like in that season. We learned out the hard way that Big Almaty Lake was in the middle of snowy mountains after we got stuck in the snow heading to view the lake. We also learned …

WWII-Panfilov-28-Monument

First Day in the Stans: Almaty, Kazakhstan

When most Westerners hear Kazakhstan, they think Borat (very nice, I like—hopefully you read that in a Borat voice). Borat was filmed in Romania rather than Kazakhstan and Sasha Baron Cohen’s character speaks Hebrew, not Kazakh. Safe to say the portrayal of Kazakhstan in the movie is very different than real life. All Borat aside, …

Buddha

6 Things I Wish I Knew Before Self-Driving Central Asia

Nothing says relaxing vacation like driving a 2002 Nissan Pathfinder across unknown territory, avoiding potholes, sheep, and a tumble over the side of a mountain. Before deciding to rent a car and drive the Pamir Highway, I heavily researched the options. We decided to rent a car and self-drive Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan because: The first …